Method of wagering

ABSTRACT

An underlying card game is played with an initial wager by a player on the underlying game and an optional wager on a higher-order outcome of the probabilities involved in the underlying game can be made. Specifically, the optional wager involves the likelihood of a player having the optimal initial set of cards given other cards that are ultimately involved in play of the underlying game.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates in general to casino card games. In particular, this invention relates to card games in which players receive an initial set of cards which, when combined with other cards dealt either directly to the player or into a community set of cards, make a complete set of cards, which are in a hierarchical relation to the complete set of all possible cards so dealt. Typically, the player with the set of cards highest in the hierarchy wins the game.

2. Relevant Background

In a casino setting, card games, poker being the most popular example, are often played against other players, with the casino or “house” taking a small percentage of the total amount wagered. This small percentage, or “rake,” is frequently less on a per-player basis than the house would make were the players playing more traditional casino games, where the players are wagering against the house rather than each other. Increasing the rate of the rake is impractical, as this would put the casino at a competitive disadvantage to other casinos. With the increasing popularity of such games, casinos are in jeopardy of realizing less revenue per visitor than they have been in the past.

An additional characteristic of such games is that players are in competition with each other in a zero-sum environment; one player's gain is another's loss. Most casino gambling has a social aspect that attracts players to the casino. While games played against the house, such as blackjack, allow players to comment upon one another's cards without substantially influencing the underlying strategies in the play of the game, and to enjoy other players' successes, games contemplated by the present invention, such as poker, do not allow for such social interaction.

The present invention alleviates both of these negative consequences of the current casino environment. First, it allows the casino to generate additional revenue from raked and non-raked card games while adding additional interest for the player. Further, because the present invention is a wager against the house, all players can have dispassionate interest in the outcome of a given player's wager.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to any card game in which players receive an initial set of cards, which, when combined with other cards dealt subsequently either directly to the player or into a community set of cards, make a complete set of cards that are in a hierarchical relation to the complete set of all possible cards so dealt. The invention provides an optional wager whose outcome is unrelated to wagers made in the underlying game.

At some point either before or after the deal of initial player cards, but prior to the dealing of any subsequent cards, each player has the option to make a wager that his or her initial cards are, given the subsequent cards dealt, among the best possible initial cards to have had. At the conclusion of the underlying game, players who have made the optional wager reveal their initial cards, and the dealer evaluates whether any other starting or initial cards could have produced a superior outcome to the actual outcome yielded by the players' cards. For the hand or hands where no such preferable outcome would have been possible, the owning or holding player(s) wins the wager.

In some embodiments of the present invention, there will be only one set of cards that can win the optional wager in any given play of the underlying game, while in others the set of winning cards may include several non-exclusive sets of cards. Similarly, various embodiments will allow for multi-tiered wagering on the basic outcome. For example, in embodiments wherein the initial set of cards contains more than one card, different pay-offs will be made, or wagered upon, depending on the number of cards in the initial hand(s) that are involved in making the best-possible hand.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Detailed descriptions of one or more exemplary embodiments are provided herein. It is to be understood, however, that the present invention may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention in any appropriate system, structure or manner.

The optional wagering method of the present invention may be used in conjunction with any of a number of well-known casino card games, including but not limited to, Texas Hold'em, Pai Gow, Caribbean Stud Poker, Let It Ride, Three Card, Poker, Five Card Stud and Seven Card Stud. These underlying games, their rules, and typical payouts are well-known to those skilled in the art. Three Card Poker is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,698,759 to Webb, entitled “Player banked three card poker and associated games,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Let It Ride and variants thereof are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,334,614, 6,019,374, 5,544,892, 5,417,430 and 5,288,081, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

One embodiment of the optional wagering method of the present invention allows a player to win the optional wager upon receiving the “Nuts,” the “Stone Cold Nuts,” or “Community Nuts” when the underlying game involves cards in players' hands as well as communal cards. A player has Nuts when the cards in his hand in conjunction with the community cards make his overall hand unbeatable, but not necessarily the best possible overall hand given the community cards. Solely by way of example, in a game where each player has three cards in their hand and two community cards, if the community cards are 4 and 6 unsuited, the Nuts would be either of 6, 6, 6 or 6, 6, 4. In this case, 6, 6, 6, is the best possible complementing hand to the two community cards and cannot be beat; however, 6, 6, 4 is also unbeatable, although not the best possible hand. A player has Stone Cold Nuts when the cards in his hand make the best possible overall hand given the community cards. In the prior example, 6, 6, 6 would be the Stone Cold Nuts, but 6, 6, 4 would simply be the Nuts. Finally, Community Nuts occurs when the community cards are unimprovable. For example, in Texas Hold'Em, if the community cards were 10, J, Q, K, A (all of the same suit), A, A, A, A, K, or K, K, K, K, A (just by way of example) the community cards are unimprovable, and thus Community Nuts results. In this case, each person making the optional wager would be a winner.

Another embodiment of the present invention allows a player to bet that any players' hand at the table has Nuts. In this case, each of the participants in the optional wager would win a fractional share of the payoff if any hand at the table has the Nuts or Stone Cold Nuts.

While the person wagering will typically be a player in the underlying game, another embodiment of the present invention allows a spectator, not participating in the underlying game, to make a wager that one of the specific underlying-game players has the Nuts or Stone Cold Nuts, or that Community Nuts exist. Optionally, the spectator could place a bet that any underlying-game players' hand at the table has the Nuts or Stone Cold Nuts.

EXAMPLE 1 The Nuts, Stone Cold Nuts or the Like

The Nuts is one embodiment of the present invention as applied to any of the various versions of poker commonly played in casinos. For this example, Texas Hold'em will be used as the poker exemplar.

Before the initial deal of cards, players are offered the opportunity to place a “Nuts” wager. Players making the wager will place the amount of their wager into a receptacle near their seat to indicate that they have made this wager. The game of Texas Hold'em is then played as usual.

In Texas Hold'em—both “limit” and “no-limit”—each player is dealt two “hole” cards (face down), and then a round of betting takes place. After this first round of betting, three cards are dealt face up (“the flop”), which are available to all players to make up a standard five-card poker hand. A second round of betting takes place, then another card dealt face up (“the turn”). A third round of betting takes place, and a fifth and final card is dealt face up (“the river”), followed by the final round of betting. Typically, the cards of players who fold their hands before the end of play in Texas Hold'em are collected by the dealer as they fold. Any players who have made a Nuts wager and fold their cards prior to the end of the underlying Texas Hold'em game will place their two cards under their wager receptacle until the end of the game.

After the conclusion and resolution wagers of the underlying game—Texas Hold'em in this example—any players who have made the Nuts wager will reveal their two cards to the dealer, without regard to whether they remained in the underlying game until its conclusion. The dealer then considers whether any of these two-card hands, in combination with the five cards available to all players, would constitute a Texas Hold'em hand that could not be beaten by any other possible two-card hand in combination with the five commonly held cards revealed during play. In making this analysis in this example, the dealer considers each player hand individually, and includes only those possible two-card combinations that are not excluded by the two-card hand being analyzed.

For example, if at the conclusion of play, the five commonly-held cards are the ace, king and queen of hearts and two other aces, then the theoretically best two-card hand is the jack and ten of hearts, which would constitute a royal flush—the highest ranking hand in Texas Hold'em. If any player who had placed the optional Nuts wager had the jack and ten of hearts in this situation, that player would win the Nuts and Stone Cold Nuts, and would receive a multiple of his wager dependent on the house's stated pay table. In this same situation, if a player had the jack or ten of hearts and the remaining ace, that player would also be considered to have an unbeatable hand; the player's four aces would be the highest possible hand given that his possession of the jack or ten of hearts rules out any other player having a royal flush, the only hand higher than four aces. Thus, this player would be paid according to the prevailing pay table.

It is possible in Texas Hold'Em, when all but one player folds, to not deal the river, the river and the turn, or even the river, the turn, and the flop, as the underlying game has been resolved by players' folding. In such case, it is preferable that the dealer will continue to deal out the community cards to resolve the Nuts wager. Alternatively, the Nuts wager can be resolved if the flop or the flop and turn have been dealt.

EXAMPLE 2 Community Nuts or the Like

Same as in Example 1, but in this embodiment—or variation on the above—the Nuts wager is won only when no cards from the players' hands are necessary to make the unbeatable hand (e.g., four aces and a king are on the table, or a royal flush is on the table). In this case, all players making the Nuts wager win.

EXAMPLE 3 Personal Nuts

Both Five and Seven Card Stud are forms of poker in which no community cards exist. Each player is dealt an initial set of “hole” cards—cards that only the player can see—and then is dealt a subsequent set of cards to fill out either five or seven cards in total. In this example, the player's wager is won when some subset of the player's hole cards optimize the cards the player is subsequently dealt, without regard to whether the resulting hand is superior to all other players' hands.

EXAMPLE 4 Three Card Poker

Three Card Poker™ is a form of stud poker in which each player is dealt a three card poker hand. The best hand is a straight-flush with the highest one (i.e. the Nuts) being an ace, king and queen all of the same suit. Next highest is three-of-a-kind, then straight, then flush, then pair, then high card. The lowest hand is 2, 3, 5 without all three being the same suit (unsuited). A fair “nuts-type” wager would be the player with the highest hand at the table is paid the odds of the cardinality of the set of active players at the table to 1 (note that the dealer's hand counts). Hence, if only one player is playing, then the odds paid would be even odds of 1:1. If five players are playing, then the paid odds would be 5:1. The casino may charge a “vig” (or vigorish), of 5% for example, on winning hands in order to collect a fee. Or only active hands may count in obtaining a win. That is, in optimal play, the player does not play anything less than a Q-6-4 which means that roughly 31% of the time the player would not play and hence lose any Nuts wager. In either case, the approach regarding the definition of the Nuts is the same: an unbeatable hand, whereas the nuts-type wager winner would be the player with the best hand (including the dealer) of those taking the Nuts wager.

EXAMPLE 5 Let It Ride

In Let It Rider®, each player is dealt three cards and tries to form the best five card poker hand using the player's three cards along with two community cards. The Nuts in this example would be the best five card poker hand given the two community cards. For example, if the two community cards are two 10s, then the Nuts and Stone Cold Nuts would be 10, 10, x. If the two community cards are 4 and 6 unsuited, then the nuts would be 6, 6, 6 or 6, 6, 4, and the Stone Cold Nuts would be 6, 6, 6. If the two community cards are 4 and 6 suited, then the Nuts would be 5, 7, 8 same community suit; or 2, 3, 5 same community suit; or 3, 5, 7 same community suit, and the Stone Cold Nuts would be 5, 7, 8 same community suit.

The following pay-off examples are meant only as an example, and those skilled in the art will understand that pay-offs may be greatly adjusted based upon several factors, such as initial wager, underlying game, odds of having a winning hand, and desired house advantage.

In one embodiment of the current invention, when the underlying game is Texas Hold'Em, payouts of 50:1 for Nuts, 100:1 for Stone Cold Nuts, and 500:1 for Community Nuts results in a house advantage of 21.6%.

In another embodiment of the current invention, when the underlying game is Texas Hold'Em game, payouts of 50:1 for Nuts, 100:1 for Stone Cold Nuts, and 1000:1 for Community Nuts results in a house advantage of 9.6%.

In another embodiment of the current invention, when the underlying game is Texas Hold'Em game, payouts of 50:1 to Nuts and 1500:1 for Community Nuts results in a house advantage of 13.45%.

It should be appreciated that the pay-offs could also be determined by a percentage of a progressive jackpot. 

1. A method of conducting a card game, comprising: conducting an underlying card game; accepting at least one optional wager from at least one auxiliary card game wagerer on an auxiliary card game associated with the underlying card game; dealing an initial hand of cards to at least one player; dealing at least one supplemental card as required to complete the underlying card game; wherein said at least one supplemental card comprises at least one of hand cards, common cards, or dealer cards; displaying all of the hand cards associated with said at least one optional wager; resolving said at least one option wager according to a set of auxiliary card game rules; wherein an outcome of the auxiliary card game is based upon the presence of an unbeatable hand of cards of said at least one auxiliary card game wagerer in light of said at least one supplemental card.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said unbeatable hand of cards creates a best possible overall hand in light of said at least one supplemental card.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one supplemental card comprises common cards, wherein said common cards comprise an unimprovable hand.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein said at least one supplemental card comprises common cards, wherein said common cards comprise an unimprovable hand.
 5. The method of any one of paragraphs 1-4, wherein the amount of said at least one optional wager is determined by a set of house rules.
 6. The method of any one of paragraphs 1-4, wherein the award to said at least one auxiliary game wagerer is determined by a set of house rules.
 7. A method of playing a card game, comprising: participating in an underlying card game; participating in an optional auxiliary card game associated with said underlying card game; receiving an initial number of cards from a dealer; said dealer dealing at least one supplemental card as required to complete the underlying card game; resolving said underlying card game according to a set of underlying card game rules; resolving said optional auxiliary card game according to a set of auxiliary card game rules; and wherein an outcome of the optional auxiliary card game is based upon the presence of an unbeatable hand of cards of at least one said participants of said option auxiliary game in accordance with the underlying card game rules in light of said at least one supplemental card.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein said unbeatable subset of said initial number of cards creates a best possible overall hand in light of said at least one supplemental card.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein said at least one supplemental card comprises common cards, wherein said common cards are unimprovable.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein said at least on supplemental card comprises common cards, wherein said common cards are unimprovable.
 11. The method of any one of paragraphs 7-10, wherein an amount of a wager for said option auxiliary card game is determined by a set of house rules.
 12. The method of any one of paragraphs 7-10, where in an aware to a winner of said option auxiliary card game is determine by a set of house rules.
 13. The method of any one of paragraphs 1-4, wherein at least one auxiliary card game wagerer does not participate in said underlying card game.
 14. A method of conducting a card game, comprising: conducting an underlying card game; accepting at least one optional wager from at least one auxiliary card game wagerer on an auxiliary card game associated with the underlying card game; dealing a hand of cards to at least one player; resolving said at underlying card game according to a set of underlying card game rules; resolving said at least one optional wager according to a set of auxiliary card game rules; wherein an outcome of the auxiliary card game is based upon the presence of at least one of an unbeatable hand of cards or a best hand of cards of said at least one auxiliary card gamer wagerer and a dealer.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the underlying card game is played electronically.
 16. The method of claim 7, wherein the underlying card game is played electronically.
 17. The method of claim 14, wherein the underlying card game is played electronically 